New Yorker projects unique art in the heart of a snowstorm

Last week's winter storm, dubbed "Nemo", crippled transportation, stretched municipal resources and left millions of frustrated residents along the East Coast to dig out.

But for Brian Maffitt of Chestnut Ridge, New York, it was an opportunity to create art.

Maffitt saw the thick, falling snow as a canvas — or more precisely, as a screen. He set up a camera with a dark pine as his backdrop and projected a movie onto the falling flakes to create a unique, once-in-a-lifetime piece of art.

He posted the video results on YouTube and still photos on Flikr, and they've become a viral sensation.

The movie creating the effects is The Lorax, which not only had strong colour saturation, but "was at the top of the list under 'Children's Movies' on Netflix," he told The Atlantic.